What Lies Behind
by PandaBox
Summary: Domino City is under complete control of the Utopian god-like figure called "Father", the faceless man loved by all. When Yami finally exposes Yugi to the truth about their leader, how far will they go to take down the government and save the city? YYxY
1. Chapter 1

Summary:: The city or Domino is under complete control of the trusted man called "Father", who keeps his true name and face hidden from the world in a tall tower in the center of the city. Though nobody has seen him before, they treat him like their only God; no other man compares to him in their minds. Yugi, who attends Domino High, is soon exposed to the dark truth about the city's beloved "Father", and desperately fights alongside Yami and his comrades to take down the Utopian leader before the city collapses on itself. But when Father's subordinates become their close friends, they suddenly find themselves having to make a painful decision between friendship and freedom.

Pairings:: Mostly HikarisXYamis, with occasional minor mentions of others to make the plot flow.

A/N:: I don't own anything here~

The plot for this actually came to me in a dream last night... so if it's been done before, I truly apologize. A;;

I also intend to use the Japanese names as opposed to the American dub names, do here's a quick reference if you don't know the names well!

Jou(nouchi)=Joey  
Honda=Tristan  
Anzu=Tea  
Otogi=Duke  
Shizuka=Serenity  
Haga=Weevil  
Ryuzaki=Rex

That's all, I think. ^ u^ So, on with the first chapter! It's non-beta'd, so please excuse all of the errors that I'm sure are somewhere. n;;

* * *

"Yugi?"

The boy with amethyst eyes gazed longingly out his bedroom window, chin cupped carefully in one hand. The elbow propping him up above the table was slowly beginning to ache, but he barely noticed. His mind was in a different place, focused on nothing but the skyscraper off in the distance. 'Father,' he thought with a quiet hum. 'I wonder what he's like.'

"Yugi!"

The boy blinked once, lifting his head out of his hand slightly in surprise. He hadn't noticed the presence of the other at all until then, which was rather unusual for him, having such sharp senses. Turning to the doorway behind him where the voice had come from, he smiled sheepishly. "Sorry, what was that?" he asked, giving the elderly man in the doorway an apologetic look.

The man just sighed, and gestured to the stairs outside his room. "You need to leave for school soon, don't you?"

Lazily, Yugi raised an eyebrow and glanced over to the clock on his wall before springing out of his seat in shock. The school day was set to begin in ten minutes; how on Earth he managed to lose track of time so badly, he would never know.

"Well," the man started, turning to walk back down the stairs. "Come down to the kitchen and drink your water before you leave. And be quick, alright?"

"I'll be right down, Grandpa!" Yugi exclaimed, snatching his bag and slinging it over his shoulder. Catching sight of the notebook on his bed, he paused for a moment and smiled warmly before picking it up in his free hand. Bounding down the stairs, he stopped briefly to slip on his shoes and dart toward the kitchen.

Something inside him twisted when he saw the bottle sitting on the wooden table in the middle of the room. Oh, Father, what was that feeling called again? Uneasiness? Doubt? Fear? He couldn't remember. That feeling always seemed to come up right before taking a drink of that liquid; that feeling that, for some ridiculous reason, he wasn't supposed to be drinking it. But it was the law to do so; Father himself had instructed everyone to drink it. So every morning and every night, every single person in the city did. Yugi, of course, was not about to defy Father; not when everybody did as he said. Letting out a breath he hadn't remembered holding, Yugi reached out to take the bottle in one hand. But a dull shock wave rushed up his arm on contact, causing him to shudder violently and accidentally drop the water to the ground.

Looking down at the water on the floor, Yugi felt his heart throb against his chest. It was wasted now; Father would be so displeased to see his water spilled like this. Reluctantly looking up to his Grandpa on the other side of the table, Yugi gulped quietly.

But to his surprise, the man didn't seem terribly upset. Or mad, even. "No worries," he laughed quietly. "I'll clean that up. Just get some water from school, alright? We'll have more by tonight."

"I'm sorr-"

"Yugi," his voice was darker now. Somehow, it seemed almost like the light in his eyes had darkened. "You're going to be late."

The boy paused for a second, then his eyes widened. "Oh!" he gasped, and picked up his bag again. "I'll be going then, Grandpa! See you later!" And with that, he ran out of the kitchen to the front door, opening it and slamming it shut behind him in a split second's time. "That's right..." he muttered to himself aloud, sprinting down the street. He ignored the quiet whispers and confused stares of the neighbors, and continued running. "I don't have time to worry about spilled water, I'm going to be late..!"

When the school finally came into view, he let out a relieved sigh and picked up speed. But just as he stepped through the gate with the sign labeled "Domino High", something else caught his eye. It was the skyscraper again; the only towering building in the city. It had such an ominous look to it, standing up so tall all on it's own. The building was suited for such a man as Father, Yugi assumed. No other man deserved to be in a place that high, right?

With a low hum, Yugi pried his eyes away from the structure and headed inside. His classroom wasn't a far walk, luckily, so he didn't bother to move too quickly. But when he approached the doorway, he got a sudden feeling of nervousness. Hardly anyone was every late, and he didn't have an excuse... would he get in trouble?

"Only one way to find out," he sighed, sliding the door open. Before he even got the chance to step in, all eyes turned to him in almost perfect unison. His friends over in the corner smiled brightly toward him, but the teacher at the front of the room looked slightly less pleased. "U-um... good morning." Yugi muttered quietly, blushing heavily. When he took a step forward, the teacher cleared his throat loudly.

"Care to explain your tardiness, Mr. Mutou?" he asked coldly, folding his arms over his chest. Yugi let out a small squeak and shook his head.

"I-I'm sorry, sir..."

The man snorted and gestured towards the back of the room. "Apologize to Father, not me. And your desk is being borrowed by the cleaning crew for the next week, so sit in the empty chair next to Yami for now."

"Yes, sir..." Yugi nodded and scampered back to the empty desk and sat down, sinking into the chair as everyone turned their eyes back to the front. He sighed heavily to himself when in the teacher began speaking about the day's lesson plan, and set down his half-open bag on the floor next to his feet. Glancing over to his far left, Yugi caught eye contact with his friends and smiled half-heartedly. While Jou simply snickered at his misfortune, Anzu gave him a sympathetic look. Honda, on the other hand, simply gestured to Yami with a ridiculous smile on his face. Rolling his eyes, he turned his attention back to his hands in his lap, determined to make them seem like the most interesting thing in the world.

"Oi."

That didn't last long. Yugi's head shot up to face directly ahead, before slowly turning to the one next to him.

"U-um... yes?"

Yami cocked an eyebrow questioningly, leaning back in his seat a bit. "Yugi, right?"

"Yeah, uh, that's me." he chuckled quietly, scratching the back of his head modestly.

Looking forward to the teacher, Yami let out a quiet hum before turning back to him a few moments later. "Yugi?"

At the awkward sound of his own name being spoken again, Yugi couldn't help but squirm in his seat. It sounded weird when someone he didn't know said it. "H-hai?"

"Don't stutter so much. It's only charming the first few times."

'What the heck is he talking about?!' Yugi wailed to himself, eyes darting back to the teacher. Forcing the blush off of his cheeks and ears, he nodded once. "I'll.. do my best."

---

The remainder of the class when by agonizingly slowly. Something inside Yugi was aching as if he were attempting to digest a baseball of some sort; he couldn't remember the last time he'd had that feeling before, or if he even had at all. Standing up to head to lunch, Yugi was cut off suddenly by a dark voice that was steadily becoming very familiar.

"Hey."

Yugi turned to the boy with a questioning look, noticing his friends standing off to the side, most likely waiting for him. "...Hey."

"That bag of yours," Yami started inquiringly, although he made it sound more like a statement. Even as Yugi was standing, Yami only had to look up from his seat slightly to make eye contact. And even though they were almost the same size, it somehow made Yugi feel sort of... small. More so than usual. "There's a notebook in it?"

Yugi's eyes widened. He was right; there was. It was a very important possession of Yugi's although all notebooks and papers alone outside of school and the workplace were strictly prohibited. "Yes... there is."

"It's yours?" Yami's voice apparently had a way of always sounding factual. Yugi couldn't recall ever noticing that before, not that the two of them had ever really spoken directly to each other.

The spiky-haired boy nodded slowly, his eyes suddenly not so keen on making contact with the others.

"I'd... like to see what's in it sometime." Yami started, standing up with some freakishly unparalleled grace that seemed to fit his image perfectly.

"Oh, I guess that's oka-"

The boy cut himself off when Yami took a step to the side staring forward coldly at the wall to Yugi's right, while also standing closely enough to whisper audibly. In a low tone, he muttered, "You didn't drink it."

For the umpteenth time since the beginning of the lesson, Yugi's eyes widened. Father, this Yami boy was full of creepy surprises. "Pardon?"

"When the water boy brings your supply tonight, do exactly as he says. Understand?"

"Y-Yami?"

With a quick sigh behind closed lips, the taller of the two smiled. "I told you not to stutter."

* * *

Phew, that was good start. I'll update soon, so don't forget to review!

Happy Friday the 13th!


	2. Chapter 2

Woo, chapter two! Still building up to the main plot, so I apologize if this comes off as dry and/or boring. The hardcore romance and epic battle scenes are in the relatively near future, I promise. Just bear with me, okay? T uT

This chapter is also un-beta'd. I'm deeply sorry for that. Again. -bows continuously-

* * *

_With a quick sigh behind closed lips, the taller of the two smiled. "I told you not to stutter."_

_-----------------------  
_

Yugi's eyes were glued to the floor below him as we walked towards the lunch room with his friends. He didn't look quite upset, but rather confused or deep in-thought. With a cocked eyebrow, Jou leaned over to the side to shove the other youth's shoulder lightly.

"Hey, Yug'. Somethin' up with you today?"

When Yugi didn't answer, or even make a move to respond, Anzu chimed in with an overly enthusiastic smile. "Yeah, Yugi! We saw you and that hot prick Yami talking practically all class. What's going on?"

The boy's head snapped up for a minute, but slowly fell back to the floor as they turned a corner in the hallway. Glancing reluctantly over his shoulder, he caught a glimpse of said "hot prick" walking a ways behind them and silently prayed to Father that he was unable to hear the conversation between himself and the others. "Oh, um..." he started, shrugging his shoulders slightly. "He just wanted to talk I guess. Nothing special."

"Oh, come on," Honda replied, rolling his eyes as they got into the food line. "He never talks to anyone without being spoken to first."

"Unless he's calling out a teacher on something," Anzu added with a laugh. "Other than that, though..."

"Give it a rest guys," Yugi sighed, grabbing a plastic tray from behind the counter feebly. "It's not a big deal. Really."

The four remained silent for a few moments, simply taking a step or two forward whenever the line moved. Yugi winced slightly when the lunch lady dropped some food on his tray, along with a bottle of water. The same bottle that they always got; nothing special or appetizing or exciting. But suddenly, it looked so different. As if out of nowhere, Yugi was overwhelmed by the desire to down the entire bottle down in one gulp. It was almost as if he was going to die right then and there if he didn't drink it. His eyes instantly glazed over, locking onto the water like a starved hyena would to a steak.

But just as his free hand began reaching for it, there was a soft whisper in his right ear, "Don't."

It was a familiar voice; he was becoming very used to it; Yami's voice. But as Yugi spun around to look at him, he wasn't nearly as close as the youth had expected. He was within earshot, yes, but he was a good ten feet away, heading towards an open table on the other side of the cafeteria. Either Yugi was beginning to hallucinate voices, or Yami was a very fast walker.

"What did he just say?" Jou asked rather loudly, pushing Yugi up to an empty table. The other two followed after them, both with full trays in their hands.

"I didn't hear him, either." Anzu replied, sitting down in one of the seats to Yugi's left. "But did you see that smile on his face? It looked so inhuman on him."

"Yeah, that guy never smiles like that, not even a little!" Honda laughed, taking a loud gulp of water from his tray. Out of the corner of his eye, Yugi could've sworn he saw Yami flinch.

"He, uh, just said hello. Nothing big." Yugi lied, his head sinking into his shoulders a bit.

"Oh, please," Honda snorted, setting down the bottle with a big 'thud'. "Nobody just says 'hello' two centimeters away from your ear. Unless it's a really erotic hello."

"Ya mean they already got that far?!" Jou wailed, accidentally whipping his open bottle forward in some overly expressed reaction. The water inside, of course, went flying. As luck would have it, said water went flying directly to Yugi. Before he realized what was happening, the liquid had drenched him completely from the shoulders up. "Oh, shit, man... sorry."

Reaching up to wipe off his face, Yugi's eyes widened when a small bit of water slipped past his lips. _Father_, it tasted so much better than any other time he could remember drinking it. It felt almost as if Father had somehow opened up Yugi's chest and placed a piece of himself inside; it felt like utter bliss. He wanted more.

But the loud squeak of a chair's metal legs grinding against the floor, paired with the hand covering his mouth a mere moment afterward snapped him back to reality.

"Don't," Those same words again. In the same tone and voice. "You don't want it."

There was a moment or two of silence at the table as the other three simply stared in shock at Yami, apparently contemplating how in Father's name the boy had moved so fast. Or why he was there at all, for that matter.

"Uhm," Anzu was the first to speak up. "Hey there, Yami... is something wrong?"

Yami simply ignored her, and handed Yugi a napkin to wipe himself off with.

"Thanks..." Yugi squeaked, taking it from him carefully.

"Keep in mind what I said just now. And..." he leaned in to the point of nearly grazing the other's ear with his lips, whispering so quietly that there was no way even the one sitting next to Yugi could hear. "If you have restrained yourself from drinking past resting time tonight, meet me behind the medical center." And with that he turned to leave the cafeteria. Watching him walk out the door, Yugi could've sworn he felt something in his gut lighten.

The water, he thought, suddenly didn't seems so amazing after all.

* * *

Oh boy. Uh, just... wait for the next chapter. xD Please. It'll be done in two days tops, I promise.

Until then, don't forget to review!


	3. Chapter 3

Alrighty. In this chapter, Yugi starts feeling the effects of the water. Or lack thereof, I guess. xD; Don't worry, Yami will be back soon. Until then, enjoy the first glimpse of the next little chunk of our cast. Consider this to be the middle of the beginning.

Also, thank you so much for the reviews everyone. T uT For some reason I've been having issues replying to a few of them, but I'm trying. Your comments are what's keeping up my spirits with this fic; without them, I'm not sure how long I could keep this up for.

So thank you again, and enjoy.

_

* * *

The water, he thought, suddenly didn't seems so amazing after all.  
_--------------

As the rest of the day slowly rolled by, Yugi found the lack of Yami _anywhere_ becoming more and more peculiar. He was nowhere to be seen; not in gym, not in math... not in the hallways, even.

"Alright, everyone," the history teacher was talking now. Yugi's mind made no move to register whatever he was saying, though; the words simply went in one ear and out the other. His eyes were glued onto the tower in the distance outside the window beside his desk. "Don't forget about tonight's homework, the essay on the accomplishments of Father. You should easily be able to write five pages or more, so I expect just that much."

The class gave a unanimous grumble somewhat resembling a "yeah, got it," and shuffled out of their seats. When the bell rang to dismiss the students, Yugi let out a light sigh and turned away from the window to stand up. By the time he looked up, though, half the classroom was already empty. Was everyone always in such a rush to leave?  
_  
'Everything's moving so fast. Something's wrong.'_

"Yugi, what are you waiting for? We have to get home before curfew!" Anzu exclaimed, inching towards the doorway along with Honda and Jou.

Yugi blinked once, cocking his head to the side with a slightly puzzled expression. "But the bell rang _just_ now; we have plenty of time."

_'What's with everyone?'_

The three friends paused for a moment, giving each other awkward glances until Jou spoke up. "What're you talking about, bud? The bell rung a whole minute ago." Shifting his gaze to the clock on the wall, Yugi read the time; 4:31.  
_  
'Huh?'_

"You've been moving like a slug for an hour now," Honda cut in, walking over to Yugi's desk. "You feelin' alright?"

_'No, _no_. I'm not. Honda.'_

Yugi shook his head simply, smiling half-heartedly. He stood up, albeit a tad shakily, and gestured towards the door. "Nope, I'm fine. Let's get going..!"

***

Outside of the school near the main gate, Yugi and his friends gathered in a small group on the grass. The sky reflected it's usual purple color against the windows around him, and the grass scratched lightly across his ankles same as always. But the colors in the sky, to him, seemed so much brighter, and the grass seemed so much sharper. Even the voices of his friends were louder than before.

It was making his head light. It was making his stomach churn. It was making him feel... what was the word? He couldn't remember.

"Anyway, this homework for math is kind of confusing," Anzu was speaking to nobody in particular, it seemed. "I hope I can finish it tonight."

There were eyes on him now; Yugi could feel them clear as day. The eyes didn't belong to his friends, either; he could see those eyes, and they weren't looking at him. No, the eyes were elsewhere. Not right in front of him. Like someone was watching him from a distance.

"I doubt it'll be that hard. It never is."

Glancing over his shoulder, Yugi could barely make out the faces of _anyone_ through the sharpened light. The familiar figures of the students around him were blurring; all but four of them. But those four faces didn't ring a bell in Yugi's mind. Two of them had almond colored hair and fuchsia eyes; they looked incredibly similar. Though, the two boys next to them were nearly the splitting images of each other as well; only the expressions on their faces were different. They both sported umber eyes and glossy white hair.

"I'm not so sure that homework from Tuesday was pretty rough."

There was no mistaking it; all four of them were staring at him. Even as Yugi's eyes met theirs, they didn't falter. The first two had equally mischievous expressions, while the third looked almost disgusted for some reason. The fourth boy, on the other hand, looked almost sympathetic. Their faces were burning into his mind like molten metal; the youth could nearly feel them forcing themselves into his brain... like some sort of virus.

"It's getting late, let's get out of here."

Clouded with confusion, Yugi reluctantly pulled his eyes away from the boys. Whichever of his friends that had spoken was right; it was getting dangerously close to curfew. As he turned to the main gate to follow after his friends, the tower off in the distance held his gaze for a few seconds before he began walking at a quicker pace.

For a moment, he thought, that tower almost looked _shoddy_.

* * *

See what I just did there? More on the way~

Don't forget to review!


	4. Chapter 4

Nice catch, Katya. xD I was wondering if anyone had noticed that. The whole color problem will probably end up being _somewhat_ explained in this chapter or the next, but I don't think we'll be hearing a whole lot about it for a while. Anyways, please enjoy this chapter. :3

* * *

_  
For a moment, he thought, that tower almost looked _shoddy_._

_--------------  
_

When he arrived home, Yugi shut the door carefully behind himself and kicked off his shoes. There was a significant lack of light in the main hallway, which he found slightly unnerving. His grandpa usually made it a point to leave most of the lights on in the house, so he wasn't quite used to the darkness.

Dropping his bag down on the ground next to his shoes, Yugi stumbled down the hallway towards the living room. As he got closer, the sound of a man talking gradually got louder. There was a light coming from the room, he realized, as he stepped in. Apparently his grandpa was watching something on tv.

"Grandpa," Yugi started, staggering over to the elderly man. When had his walking become so... er, _bad_? "Why are all the lights off?"

"Didn't you hear?" Sugoroku smiled, keeping his eyes on the television. "Father is requesting that everyone save energy by keeping the lights off." On the screen, and a black-haired boy that couldn't have been older than thirteen was speaking with a big grin. He looked terribly familiar, but Yugi couldn't seem to put a name to the face.

_'Maybe he's one of the middle school kids?'_

The boy on the screen gestured to the tower behind him. For some reason, Yugi felt his heart skip. "As many of you already know," the boy started, winking once. "Father will be hosting his annual Domino City party next week, so be sure you're ready! There's going to be a very important announcement during the dinner portion of the event, though no further information will be given at this time. That's all for today's news; thanks for watching! May Father be with you all."

"Father's messenger is growing up to be a fine young man." Yugi's grandfather chuckled, standing up to shut off the tv. "Kids these days are so energetic."

_'Oh, right. His messenger. I suppose if I hid my face from my people constantly, I'd want one of those, too.' _Yugi was shocked by his sarcastic thoughts, and quickly shoved them out of his mind. Such thoughts were uncalled for; when had he started being so disrespectful? "I... yeah. I wonder what the announcement is gonna be about."

"Who can say? But if it's from Father, surely it must be important." Sugoroku nodded once. "You're home late today. Why?"

Yugi shrugged, stumbling to the side slightly. His footing was getting worse and worse by the minute. "I'm not feeling good, I guess. I'm gonna... go upstairs for a bit, okay?" He didn't wait for an answer, and quickly headed up to his bedroom. After nearly tripping and falling back down the stairs, Yugi flung his door open and fell onto his bed with an audible "thump".

For the first time for as long as he could remember, Yugi felt genuinely distressed. His head was pounding, his limbs felt like fifty-pound weights, and it was as if all of his senses had improved ten-fold. Even the slightest prick of a pencil tip felt like the point of a knife. The dull purple color of the sky through his window was sharpening into a fiery fuchsia color; one that nearly mirrored the eyes of the two boys outside of the school. The colors of everything were gradually becoming brighter... even his own skin was becoming lighter, reflecting more light. Not only that, but the voices he heard, the squeaks of doors opening and closing, even the scuffing of his feet against the ground seemed five times louder. Yugi wanted nothing more than to find a volume knob for the universe and turn it way down. His mind was on the verge of exploding.

And he had no idea _why_ this was happening.

In no more than a day, he'd gone from a perfectly normal teenager with normal habits and normal abilities to a shaking, dizzy, disconcerted boy. Wasn't Father supposed to protect him from feelings like this? He'd been told so nearly all his life.

It was then that the door bell rang. Yugi let out an audible groan, throwing himself off the bed to his feet. He staggered, then paused for a second before heading back downstairs. "I've got it, Gramps," he called, reaching out for the doorknob. Pulling the door open, he nearly fell backwards when a case of bottles was immediately thrust into his arms.

"Good evening, Yugi!" the man past the doorway grinned brightly, cracking his knuckles subconsciously. "Nice day, isn't it?"

"Oh, Otogi," Yugi blinked, looking down at the bottles in his hands before looking back up to the green-eyed man. "Yeah, I guess so."

_"When the water boy brings your supply tonight, do exactly as he says. Understand?"_ Yami's lowly voiced request flashed through Yugi's mind, causing him to take a step back and don a serious expression.

"Um, O-Otogi... I heard from someone that you," he paused for a second to squirm awkwardly. "Er, have something to tell me."

There was a short silence as Otogi's grin fell gradually to mirror Yugi's face. "Understand this; I'm risking my position at Father's side for your sake here, Yugi."

Yugi gave him a puzzled look, eyes widening slightly. He said nothing.

"...Alright, listen here. When you get inside, take your share from the case and tell your Grandfather that you're taking them up to your room so you can keep the water evenly divided between you two for the weekend." He took a breath, and leaned in a bit closer to Yugi. In a quieter voice, he continued, "Tonight, if... no, _when_ you meet up with Yami, give him all of your water. He'll be able to explain everything and give you something safe to drink. Got it?"

"What do you mean, _safe_?"

"Like I said," Otogi grinned and turned to head back down the sidewalk of Yugi's house. "He'll explain everything... trust him."

* * *

D: I really wanted to include Yami and the other boys in this chapter, but they're going to have to wait until next chapter. Oh well. OTL

Don't forget to review; I'll have the next chapter up before Tuesday, for sure!


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